Amazon Kindle Fire Review (round 2) - The Boy takes another swing at it

After more usage of the Kindle Fire, I seem to understand it more.  It's heavier than the iPhone, lighter than the iPad, and it's size meets directly in the middle of the two.  It seems to me that it's more of a device for somewhat, quick usage for like checking up on e-mails and reading a book to pass the time.  It seems to be pretty good for number of things.  For anybody who wants something bigger than the iPhone and smaller than the iPad, this is for you.  Personally, I would recommend all three because they are all really good devices to have.  But don't get any goofy ideas because the Kindle, like any device that isn't a phone, won't call other people's phones of course.  Definitely recommended.

Amazon Kindle Touch WiFi+3G

I've now had almost a week with the Kindle Touch, and I have to say, it is my favorite Kindle yet.  No more worrying about hitting the buttons and turning the page by accident.  No more arguments about which version of the Kindle had the best buttons.  A touch screen was needed for a long time, and now we finally have it.

When I review ebook readers (and I have posted reviews at various locations since the RCA REB1100), I like to get through a full book before I say anything about the device.  It takes time to get in the habit of something new, and snap decisions are not what someone who loves books is looking for in a review.

The Kindle Touch disappears in your hand while you read.  I'm not sure where in the process it happened, but touching the corner of the book like I would do with a normal book to start turning the page felt natural.  Page changes were quick and without as much 'flash' as previous generation eInk devices.  The contrast seems better as well, but I think I have said that about every generation of eInk displays, and I know that everyone looks at them differently.

What I have to say though, is for me, this is THE ebook reader.  For long-form reading, I won't use anything else....until the next new thing drags me away I guess.

This is Fat Boy Heaven!

Welcome to Fat Boy Heaven!  The idea for this site came from an inside joke some buddies and I have had for a while.  There was this great hole-in-the wall sandwich shop down the street from our office, and whenever someone asked us where we were going for lunch, we always said "Fat Boy Heaven".

Now to put this in perspective, we are all over 300 pounds, and who would you trust food suggestions from, the anorexic in the corner, or the Fat Boys?  I know who I ask!

We will use this site to talk about new recipes, post reviews of restaurants, and eventually to host a podcast of us sitting around and talking about food.  Who knows, it could even turn into us opening a restaurant some day.

So sit back and hold on tight.  It's going to be a wild ride!

Kindle Fire Review Part 3 - The Boy

The Kindle Fire seems to weigh... an average amount for it's size.  However, the sleekness of it is too smooth, thus making it too hard for me to use without a case...... the case is definitely recommended.  

The up side to it is that the arrangement of the device is making much easier to access the music, applications, and the other stuff.  It's basically a smaller version of the iPad... Kinda...

Kindle Fire Review Part 2 - Mom

During the week I commute by train between home and work. I also travel for work and spend a good amount of time in airports and airplanes. I like having the convenience of multiple apps in one device, which makes my iPad and iPhone very convenient.

I have not been a Kindle user as a stand alone device, but I like the size of the Kindle Fire and find it works much better for commuting than the iPad. The screen size on the Kindle Fire is great for reading, to play games and music. However, I prefer the screen size of the iPad for watching movies over the Kindle Fire.

If I want to go relax at a coffee shop to read and listen to music I would prefer working with the Kindle Fire. But, if I want to be productive and work at the same coffee shop I will take my iPad.

 

Kindle Fire Review Part 1 - Dad's Take

OK, the Kindle Fire arrived this morning.  

The first thing you notice when you turn it on is the small things.  As soon as it connected to Wi-Fi, it popped up with my name and a welcome.  No registration (Amazon took care of that before shipping), no login to my Amazon account.  It just knew and worked.

The Carousel already had all of the books I have ever bought from the Kindle store ready to download.  It knew I was a Prime member and video streaming was ready as soon as I tapped on the video link.  Selecting music brought up not only music bought from the Amazon Music Store, but also the music and audio books I have uploaded to my cloud drive.  Sometimes the small touches make all the difference, and just like with the original Kindle Amazon gets them right.

The weight is on par with other tablets of this size, which is to say it is heavier than expected but not uncomfortably so.  This is the part where most reviewers would recap the specs and compare them to the iPad, or the Nook Tablet that is being released today.  I don't think the target audience of this tablet really cares though, so I'll keep this easy.  The screen quality is great, whether reading a book or watching video or playing a game.  The sound from the speakers is good and can get loud enough to be heard.  Overall it is a serious device, and comes across solid and well executed compared to other tablets I have tried.

Looking deeper into how things work in normal use, there are a few choices that Amazon made that are interesting to me: 

First, reading (which the Kindle brand is known for) is easy.  However, one of the features I love from the iPad version of the Kindle Application is nowhere to be found.  There is no way to change the background or text color that I can find.  While black text on a paper white background is ok, I find a sepia type background easier on the eyes.  I can make the change with two taps on the iPad app, but it isn't anywhere that I can find on the Fire.  Adjust the brightness makes it easier on the eyes, but still a curious decision.  

Second, Applications, which I would have thought would be better refined (highlighting the applications made specifically for the Fire) were anything but.  Bestselling applications are front and center, rather than applications made for Fire.  Not good or bad, but an interesting choice.

Third, Newsstand needs work.  I downloaded Car & Driver magazine as a test, and was less than impressed.  Once the magazine loaded there were large blank grey spaces at the top and bottom of the page.  When zooming in to read, movement to the next column actually moved to the next page, which was again reduced to the point that it was unreadable.  They are going to have to get this better to compete with Zinio.

Overall, I think Amazon will do well with the Kindle Fire.  It's price point sets a new bar in the Android tablet game, and Amazon's reach and mind share will bring it to a far broader audience than the others in this space have been able to garner.  Add all of this to the fact that Amazon has an ecosystem in place to handle all of the consumption of media and applications the common user could ask for and you have a recipe for success.

 

 

Kindle Fire review coming tomorrow!

OK folks, our first try at how this format will work is coming tomorrow.  Our review will include not only my take, but perspectives from the wife and kids.  I can't wait to get the ball rolling, but don't have much choice.  Someday we'll be big enough that I get devices pre-release instead of waiting for normal shipping.

Also look for a case roundup, I have 4 or 5 coming along with the Kindle Fire.

Working on the business plan while I update the shipping status on Amazon.com every few minutes.

 

Stay tuned!

Getting the ball rolling

Wow, getting this started took all day, but I have the basics in place:

Accounts setup for the family
Domain registered and redirected to Squarespace
Email setup with GoogleApps
Twitter account (@teknoholics if you want to follow us)
Amazon Affiliate account set-up to try and make money

Now we just need to get everyone trained in how to post, get some content up so people have a reason to come visit, and get enough traffic so that I can do this full time. No problem, right?

The wife thinks people would like to learn things like setting up GoogleApps domains for family schedules and such, so I'm going to have some how-to articles to write.

Let the fun begin!

Welcome!

I've been writing product reviews and leveraging technology for fun and work for several years.  When talking about the next steps in technology with my wife and kids, I got a brainstorm.  Why not start a site for all of us to talk about what excites each of us in technology?  I know the ways that the kids choose to use technology is radically different from how I use it.  My wife is trying to find better and easier ways to intigrate the way she works with technology both from a workflow standpoint and just understanding things like social media.

So we started talking about what it could look like.  This is a start, and it could change at any moment, but a start is important.